Method and apparatus for operating a measuring device

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for operating a measuring (data acquisition) device, particularly a magnetic resonance device of the type, wherein, in each of at least one determination pass, at least one result data record is determined in dependence on a default data record, wherein the result data record has at least one control parameter for controlling the measuring device for the acquisition of measurement data and/or at least one evaluation result determined from the measurement data, and wherein the determination pass includes multiple steps, in each of which an output data record is determined in dependence on an input data record and at least one processing rule, and wherein at least one of the steps is a dependent step in which the input data record of which is determined in dependence on the output data record of at least one further one further step among the multiple steps.

We claim as our invention: 
     
         1 . A method for operating a measuring device, comprising:
 in a computer, executing at least one determination pass and, in each determination pass in said computer, determining one result data record dependent on a default data record accessible by the computer, said result data record comprising at least one control parameter derived from measurement data of the measuring device, said control parameter being configured to control the measuring device in a procedure selected from the group consisting of acquiring said measurement data and evaluating said measurement data;   in said computer, executing each determination pass as a plurality of determination pass steps, in each of which an output data record is determined dependent on an input data and on at least one processing rule, with at least one of said plurality of determination pass steps being a dependent step that is determined dependent on the output data record of at least one other determination pass step in said plurality of determination pass step;   in said computer, in parallel with execution of at least one of said plurality of determination pass steps, determining at least one speculative output data record by applying the processing rule of said at least one dependent step to one default speculative input data record;   in said at least one dependent step, if the at least one speculative input data record corresponds to the input data record of said at least one dependent step, assigning the speculative output data record to the corresponding input data record, as an output data record for said at least one dependent step;   if said at least one speculative input data record does not correspond to the input data record of said at least one dependent step, determining the output record of said at least one dependent step by applying the processing rule of the at least one dependent step to the input data record of the dependent step; and   from said computer, making at least said output data record of said at least one dependent step available in electronic form.   
     
     
         2 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising making at least one user input into said computer, and determining said default data record dependent on said at least one user input. 
     
     
         3 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising executing said plurality of determination passes using respectively different default data records in the respective determination passes and, for at least one item of input data of the input data record of said at least one dependent step, making a statistical evaluation from said plurality of determination passes and determining said speculative input data record as a speculative input data record in which said item of input data has a most probable value according to the statistical evaluation, or determining a plurality of speculative input data records having different respective values for said item of input data according to said statistical evaluation. 
     
     
         4 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising performing said plurality of determination passes with respectively different default data records and, in at least one of said determination passes, determining said speculative input data record by varying an input data record of the immediately preceding determination pass. 
     
     
         5 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising executing said plurality of determination passes with respectively different default data records and, in each determination pass, storing the speculative input data record therefor and the speculative output data record assigned thereto and, in at least one of said determination passes, if the input data record of said at least one dependent step corresponds to one of the stored speculative input data records, assigning the speculative output data record, that is assigned to the stored corresponding speculative input data record, as the output data record of said at least one dependent step. 
     
     
         6 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising determining a respective speculative output data record in each of at least two different dependent steps, and determining a relative number of speculative output data records respectively determined for the different dependent steps, in dependents on relative processing times of the respective processing rules of said different dependent steps. 
     
     
         7 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising determining said speculative output data record in a first computer, and performing said steps in parallel with said performance of said plurality of determination passes, in a second computer that is separate from said first computer. 
     
     
         8 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  within said measuring device is a magnetic resonance apparatus, that executes, as said process, a magnetic resonance data measuring sequence, and using a parameter of said magnetic resonance data measuring sequence as said at least one control parameter. 
     
     
         9 . A method as claimed in  claim 8  comprising generating a magnetic resonance spectroscopy data record as said at least one result data record. 
     
     
         10 . A measuring apparatus comprising:
 a measuring device configured to execute a procedure selected from the group consisting of acquiring measurement data and evaluating measurement data, said procedure being controlled dependent on at least one control parameter;   a computer configured to execute at least one determination pass and, in each determination pass, determine one result data record dependent on a default data record accessible by the computer, said result data record comprising at least one control parameter derived from measurement data of the measuring device, said control parameter being configured to control the measuring device in a procedure selected from the group consisting of acquiring said measurement data and evaluating said measurement data;   said computer being configured to execute each determination pass as a plurality of determination pass steps, in each of which an output data record is determined dependent on an input data and on at least one processing rule, with at least one of said plurality of determination pass steps being a dependent step that is determined dependent on the output data record of at least one other determination pass step in said plurality of determination pass step;   said computer being configured to determine, in parallel with execution of at least one of said plurality of determination pass steps, at least one speculative output data record by applying the processing rule of said at least one dependent step to one default speculative input data record;   in said at least one dependent step, if the at least one speculative input data record corresponds to the input data record of said at least one dependent step, said computer being configured to assign the speculative output data record to the corresponding input data record, as an output data record for said at least one dependent step;   if said at least one speculative input data record does not correspond to the input data record of said at least one dependent step, said computer being configured to determine the output record of said at least one dependent step by applying the processing rule of the at least one dependent step to the input data record of the dependent step; and   said computer being configured to make at least said output data record of said at least one dependent step available in electronic form.